The discussion continues on the implementation of big data to improve mobile local content delivery. This is something we continue to cover and will be an important part of the mobile local monetization picture.

See below for the latest; my Street Fight column for this month. An excerpt and link are included, and stay tuned for more here and during our upcoming conferences.

Earlier this summer, I moderated a panel at Street Fight Summit West about how local media is colliding with the emerging super-sector known as “Big Data.” The idea is that local content and ad delivery continue to get smarter with more context around people, places and how they’re connected.

This kicks into ludicrous speed as smartphone penetration breaks the 50 percent barrier, resulting in lots more signals to play with. So a batch of companies has emerged to capture, scrub and apply that data — building on what others like Localeze have been doing for years.

“Demographic information including age ranges [and] geographies, can be valuable predictors,” said Localeze CEO Jeff Beard. “Yet, if you can merge this information with socio-economic and lifestyle data such as affluence, shopping trends, businesses can build a much more precise privacy-friendly profile for targeting.”

Others in this batch include Sense Networks, PlaceIQ, Locu, Factual, and Urban Mapping — not to mention the mobile local ad networks that are building similar capability in house (xAd, WHEREads, JiWire, etc.).

This will define the mobile & local promise we keep hearing about — that location targeted ads will boost relevance, performance and thus monetiztion. But one thing often missing from the discussion is what the heck we mean by “location targeted?”

Continue reading.